London — British Prime Minister keir starmer Peter Mandelson faced calls on Thursday to resign after it emerged that he was not initially granted security clearance for the post of ambassador to the United States, but was ultimately removed from the post due to his close ties to the disgraced sex offender. Jeffrey Epstein.
Following revelations in the Guardian newspaper, the government said Starmer was not aware that the Foreign Office had rejected Mandelson’s security vetting process to become Britain’s ambassador to Washington “until earlier this week”.
Starmer has previously insisted that proper process was followed in the appointment, and that Mandelson, who was fired in September 2025, had lied about the extent of his relationship with Epstein.
Once Starmer was informed, a government spokesperson said that the Prime Minister “instructed officials to immediately establish the facts as to why the evolving investigation was permitted and to make plans to update the House of Commons.”
Opposition MPs said Starmer should resign if he had misled Parliament.
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, said Starmer was “definitely in resignation territory”, while Ed Davey, leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats, said Starmer “must go” if he misled parliament and lied to the British public.
Starmer’s premiership faces its biggest crisis since February Millions of pages of Epstein-related documents released The closeness of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein has been highlighted by the US Justice Department.
In particular, Starmer’s political judgment was questioned after emails in the Epstein files released by the US government suggested that Mandelson had given sensitive – and potentially market-inducing – government information to the disgraced financier in 2009, when he was a member of the Labor government.
Starmer has repeatedly apologized For leading the British public and victims of Epstein’s sex trafficking to believe what he has called “Mandelson’s lie.” During his apology, he said both inside and outside Parliament that the necessary vetting rules related to appointing someone to the post of US Ambassador were followed.
British police subsequently launched a criminal investigation, Mandelson’s two houses were searched In London and western England. Mendelson was Arrested on 23 February On suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was released on bail the next morning after more than nine hours of interrogation.
Mandelson, who has denied doing anything improper, has not been charged.
A few days before Mandelson’s arrest, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as prince andrewWas also arrested on the same charge. Like Mandelson, the younger brother of King Charles III was a close associate of Epstein.
Despite this, in late 2024, Starmer appointed Mandelson to the post of ambassador. Learning about her past relationship with EpsteinWho Died in prison in 2019. Mandelson’s trade expertise was considered a major asset in trying to persuade the Trump administration not to impose heavy tariffs on British goods, and it paid off when the countries struck a trade deal a few months later.
Starmer fired Mandelson in September after the first revelations of her affair with Epstein.
British documents The since-release of the Epstein files, some of which relate to the investigative process, confirmed that Starmer chose Mandelson despite warnings that it could expose the government to “reputational risk”. The government says it will release another batch of documents related to Mandelson’s appointment, after being forced to do so by Parliament.
